Slight AU. Ages:
Felix: 12 (turning 13 soon)/8th grade
Alyssa: 13/8th grade
Julian: 13/8th grade
Sean: 12 (turning 13 a little later)/8th grade
Sadie: 15/9th grade
Walt: 16/10th grade
Cleo: 14/9th grade
Jaz: 16/10th grade (she'll appear as of next chapter)
BAG. Penguins Are Godly. They probably just misspelled penguins. I had on a penguin shirt that day; it was purple, with a penguin on it, and the penguin had a thought bubble that said I heart ice cubes. Of course, the heart was like a red heart you'd see painted in girly letters and the ice cubes were also drawn. I had put on black jeans, skinny jeans, as Alyssa had pointed out. And, of course, my bright blue Converse. I had gotten clothes markers and drawn penguins on the outsides. Carter didn't think I looked like much of a magician when I wore normal clothes, but he isn't really a fashion god himself, and he doesn't appreciate penguins, so there.
So back to BAG. Sadie, Walt and Cleo had gone a different way; we didn't want to seem weird. I mean, roughly fourteen kids coming from the same place all knowing each other was a little like that weird movie Yours, Mine and Ours and none of us wanted that. So we decided to go with either our age groups or groups of preferable friends. Alyssa and I, of course, had immediately paired up (Alyssa's, like, my best friend), and we decided to let Julian and Sean tag along.
I think Julian has a crush Alyssa.
When we got there, we saw Salt (what we called Sadie and Walt together, though I preferred her to be with Anubis more. Anubis is cold and so, therefore he likes penguins) plus their third wheel Cleo dissolve to go to their separate classes. Or wait, were we supposed to go to homeroom first? I don't know. I doodled penguins all over my schedule instead of memorizing it.
Alyssa thankfully knew this and led our group towards a sign that said '8th grade'. Smart move, Alyssa.
"You know, I wonder what you guys would do without me," she grumbled. Julian laughed and started talking to her about penguins-know-what, and Sean started talking to some other eighth graders standing around, looking about as bored as I had felt the moment we started walking to school. So what to do? Easy!
I pulled out a miniature penguin shabti, Toby's, if I'm correct. Toby is one of my penguins. I animated Toby with a quick spell and let him run up and down my arm, creating miniature ice slides for him from my shoulder to my elbow, where it did a roller coaster loop and continued down to the palm of my hand.
It was really warm, so I kept on having to inconspicuously steal water from someone's water bottle (it was just sitting right there, in the backpack, I had a good shot!) to rebuild it. Unfortunately that tactic wasn't very successful, and when I accidentally oversaw a tiny hole in the slide, and Toby's shabti summersaulted off my arm and cracked his head on the asphalt. Oops.
"Felix!" I heard Alyssa hiss behind me. My concentration immediately broke and a very unpleasant feeling settled on my arm; my slide had just melted and my arm was now drenched.
"Yeah?"
"What did I tell you about the shabti? And just penguins in general?"
"I should try not to have them crack their heads on the floor on the very first day," I mumbled.
"And?"
"And I shouldn't steal other people's water to make uber-fun ice slides on my arm for hyperactive clay animals that have the potential to explode and end the world, I know. I was just trying to have fun!"
"No more shabti in school, Felix," Alyssa said sternly.
"No more shabti in school," I mimicked to myself when Alyssa couldn't hear me anymore. "Who does she think she is… doesn't understand the importance of penguins… king Toby… rule the world," I let my thoughts wonder, completely unaware of a girl about my age watching me. She had short brown hair, green eye makeup (though not too much) and brown eyes. And a splash of freckles across her nose that looked a little like a penguin's beak with a bit of imagination.
"S-sorry…" I trailed off. Oh great. School hadn't even started yet and people thought I was a penguin obsessed freak. Oh wait. I am.
"It's okay. I'm Janina. You?"
"Felix," I responded.
"Why is your arm wet?" she questioned.
"I spilled water on it," I said lamely. It would have been way cooler to say I had built a roller coaster out of ice on it. Absentmindedly, my eyes swept the ground for Toby's shabti, but I couldn't find it. Alyssa had probably already picked it up and packed him deep in her bag.
"Oh. So what homeroom are you in?"
Uh… oops.
"I don't know?"
Janina rolled her eyes, took my arm and dragged me towards a table in the middle of the group. I had lost sight of Alyssa, which was kind of unnerving, but my penguin charm was still securely around my neck. Oh, I didn't tell you about that? Walt made it for me for my twelfth birthday last year. Although he made me promise not to tell Sadie about it because it gave me the power to do some extra penguin-power things. Think of it as jailbreaking an ipod or so, but Walt jailbroke my magic.
"Your name?" It was a bored looking woman who looked to be about fifty.
"Uh, Felix Jacobsen."
She stared at her list for a while.
"Homeroom one-oh-seven, go stand over there," she vaguely waved her hand towards the clump of people I had just been standing with.
"And where do I get my schedule?" I asked.
"Do I look like I'm in charge of that?" she scowled at me. Wow, that was more unhelpful than that time when Sharkbait (one of my penguins) ate Khufu's cheerios and then dove off a cliff which ended in rabbits everywhere (don't ask).
"Sorry," I muttered, and then followed Janina back. Well, I tried to follow. We were stopped by a group of girls that were haggling louder than a horde of emperor penguins. Let me tell you, that's loud, especially during mating season.
"Hi, Jani," one of them (the leader, I think) greeted us. She seemed cool! "Who's this?" She smiled at me. She was prettier than Janina, with long straight red hair and tanned skin and green eyes. Yeah, she was definitely pretty. However, the moment I looked at Janina's face, I regretted feeling that the other girl was pretty. Janina was glaring at the girls, and I had a feeling that there was something wrong between them.
"I'm Felix," I introduced myself, and the redhead smiled at me.
"Cool, I'm Jamie. What homeroom are you in?"
"Uh… one-oh-seven," I remembered, surprised to feel heat on my ears.
"Oh my god, that is so awesome, we're in the same homeroom. Have you gotten your schedule yet?"
"Oh, uh… no," I stated, looking down. Somehow, I felt embarrassed. Jamie laughed however, and… well… my heart kind of exploded.
"Okay, so why don't you come with us? We'll get you your schedule and some… nicer friends," she added with a scowl in Janina's direction. The latter glared back harder.
"Well, I, uh"
"Awesome."
Jamie took my arm the same way Janina just had and dragged me away, leaving Janina alone by herself. What did Jamie mean with nicer people? Janina seemed nice.
"What's wrong with Janina," I asked. Jamie stopped and turned to me, waving her friends to go on.
"Felix, she got kicked out of school halfway through last year because she brought a knife with her."
Oh. Wow.
"Oh," I responded, and Jamie nodded.
"She says she's changed, but…" her eyes flitted around. People were talking; no one would hear us. "Can I trust you?"
Weird question.
"Of course," I replied. I may be ADHD, but I can keep a secret. Why do you think only half my mini fridge has Mountain Dew in it? Okay, if you didn't get that, it's because I'm hatching chicks there secretly. Don't tell Sadie or I will get King Flavio and his army to attack you, and King Flavio never fools around. Flavs is an emperor penguin.
"Last year, Janina and I were best friends. I knew she had a cutting problem, and I helped her get through it, but when I wanted to talk to her about my problems, she just said 'yeah, whatever' and walked away. I tried talking to her constantly, but then she kept ignoring me, acting as if I wasn't there. Then, one day, she brought a knife to school and threatened a teacher. No one knows how she got back. But stay away from her, okay?"
"Yeah, okay." That convinced me. Of course, Janina couldn't be as terrifying as Apophis, but, you know, teenaged girls are right up there with the albino snake when it comes to scariness levels.
"You know what, I like you. You should hang out with us at lunch," Jamie smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. But then I thought of Alyssa, Julian and Sean.
"Is it okay, of by then they haven't found other people, if a few of my friends also hang out with us?" Jamie frowned briefly but then nodded.
"Sure."
"Cool! So, about my schedule…"
*PAGE BREAK**PAGE BREAK*NANANANA*PAGE BREAK*
I ended up with a really cool schedule. Mondays I started out with double art, then a free period (in free periods we could do whatever we wanted and as of eighth grade with a parent's permission slip we were allowed to go off campus), then English and French. After French I had sixth period off (which seemed to be standard, unless you did any extracurricular things). After sixth I had drama, then math, and then I got to go home.
Sixth period was like a lunch period, but there was another twenty minute break between sixth and seventh so that the people who had something sixth could eat lunch then. Jamie said she was in my French class, so I could just tag along after that.
We were waiting in front of the homeroom about ten minutes before the bell, when someone punched my shoulder. Hard. I mean, harder than a penguin's slap, and that's pretty hard to do.
"Alyssa!" I threw my arms around her. Even though it had only been twenty minutes, I felt like I hadn't seen her for twenty years. Hey, when you're used to spending twelve plus hours a day with someone, you get a little attached.
"Hey, Penguino." Penguino was what Cleo and Alyssa always called me. "Where've you been?"
"Oh, someone just showed me my homeroom and then Jamie offered to help me get my schedule." Remembering the redhead, I turned around and tapped Jamie on the shoulder. She turned, her eyebrows raised.
"Yeah?"
"Jamie, this is Alyssa, by best friend," I introduced Alyssa. Jamie smiled and gave Alyssa a little wave.
"Hey, I'm Jamie. What homeroom are you in?"
"One-oh-eight," Alyssa grimaced. More to me, she said "and Julian and Sean are in one-ten." Her shoulders slumped a little. I think she also likes Julian.
"That's sad, if they're your friends," Jamie commented. "We're always got classes mixed with one other homeroom, so they'll be in none of our classes."
"Our?" Alyssa questioned. She gets a little suspicious, but that's okay.
"Yeah, seven and eight always work together."
A small part of my mind wondered if Sadie and Cleo would be in the same grouping. I hoped for them. Apart from her looks, Sadie really wasn't a people-person.
"You and your friends should hang out with us at lunch," Jamie told Alyssa. Alyssa sent a little glare my way (I don't know what for), but she nodded, before going back to her homeroom.
"Did I say something wrong?" Janina asked, and I shrugged.
"I don't think so. Sorry, Aly sometimes gets a little moody, but she's actually really cool."
Jamie was about to say something, when the door to our homeroom opened and a tux stepped out.
"All right, homeroom one-oh-seven, in with you, you little pests."
Everyone started clobbering towards the entrance, and I was pushed extremely close to Jamie, which made me blush.
"C'mon, ya little ice cubes, in you go," I heard the teacher growl. Wait, did he say ice cubes?
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